Google’s Army of Hard Drive Destroying Robots; Other News

In this week’s data center news roundup, we take a look at Google’s recent practice of using robots to destroy decommissioned hard drives; why bare metal servers are on the rise; the hottest and coolest data center locations and more.

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Data Center News Roundup for Friday, September 7, 2018

We Are the Robots

If you’ve ever wondered how many useless hard drives you’d need in order to call in an army of robots to destroy them for you, well, Google has your answer. As Data Center Knowledgereports this week, the search giant has so many hard drives in need of decommissioning that it has deployed robots to “puncture and shred” the drives, presumably because they can do it more quickly and effectively than humans. It all calls to mind a fleet of Daleks from Doctor Who screaming, “Exterminate, exterminate!” at the top of their gravelly, little robot voices. Google VP of data centers Joe Kava told DC Knowledge that automating the workload has proven especially helpful during large upgrades.

Bare Metal Servers

In the ongoing battle between shared hosting, dedicated servers and cloud or VPN hosting, shared hosting is winning with some small businesses, Data Center Dynamicsreports this week. But, author Simon Yeoman says, you shouldn’t overlook the option of bare metal servers. Because they are physical rather than virtual servers, Yeoman argues that they’re a “best of both worlds” option because they can deal with short-term processing needs before being wound down when they’re no longer needed. Also, they’re not shared between customers, another bonus.

Record Year for Leasing

2017 was a banner year for data center leasing, and 2018 is shaping up to match (and perhaps top) last year’s numbers, Data Center Journalreports. Net absorption surpassed 177 MW in the United States, which is almost two thirds of the 2017 annual net absorption. Of particular note: 65 percent of this activity is taking place in Northern Virginia. The story goes on to outline the top data center markets in the United States, based on activity, with Phoenix leading the way at 32.5 MW, Dallas/Fort Worth at 19.1 MW, Silicon Valley at 10.6 MW and Austin/San Antonio and Chicago rounding out the top five.

Where It’s Hot, Where It’s Not

Finally, this week, with heat and climate change on everyone’s minds, Data Center Dynamics lays out the hottest and coolest data center locations across the globe. DCD’s Peter Judge examines five markets – from Sweden and London to Northern Virginia, Singapore and Beijing along with their pros and cons – including weather factors. Of course, demand is the single biggest reason for a data center’s location, Judge says, but choosing a region based on its climate it still an important factor.

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